Expanding translation through translational cities: The case of Ilan Stavans’s Nuyol

Abstract

ABSTRACT The aim of this article is to expand the definition of translation in a transdisciplinary fashion. This is achieved by understanding the cosmopolitan city as a text that needs to be translated. Taking as a case study Ilan Stavans’s particular use of language in a cosmopolitan translanguaging space, this article analyzes his Nuyol as a translation site and a translation zone. The translations of Stavans, a polyglot transmigrant, show how the contemporary interconnection between mobility, space and languages contributes to the construction of complex identities in cosmopolitan cities, particularly in his Nuyol, where people live translated. This is studied following a research avenue that sees contemporary cities both as translanguaging spaces and as translational cities. Combining these two concepts shows how Stavans’s Spanglish may be a force that can be used to deterritorialize homogeneous spaces.